The Truth Will Out by Jane Isaac – 4*s

Eva is horrified when she witnesses an attack on her best friend. She calls an ambulance and forces herself to flee Hampton, fearing for her own safety. DCI Helen Lavery leads the investigation into the murder. With no leads, no further witnesses and no sign of forced entry, the murder enquiry begins. Slowly, the pieces of the puzzle start to come together. But as Helen inches towards solving the case, her past becomes caught up in her present. Someone is after them both. Someone who will stop at nothing to get what they want. And as the net starts to close around them, can Helen escape her own demons as well as helping Eva to escape hers?

My review – first posted on Goodreads in March 2014

“Naomi, what is it?” She whisked back to face Eva. “There’s somebody in the house… “A flash in the distance … the hand … a movement flashed over the Skype box on the screen before it went blank …”Naomi! ” What should she do? Call an ambulance? The police? No! Not the police. Definitely, not the police … an ambulance.

Only a week ago Eva and Naomi had been travelling back through France to the ferry port, after a free holiday in Milan. A holiday that had had been offered in return for delivering the car they were driving back to the UK. As they are driving back, they have problems with the car window and when the garage they take it to, takes off the door panel to fix it, they find several brown parcels tucked into the door casing. In a quandary, they decide that their only option is to risk bringing it into the country, as they fear they won’t be believed if they tell the police the truth. Only a week – now Naomi has been attacked and Eva is on the run.

Naomi’s case is allocated to DCI Helen Lavery, who finds herself landed with a puzzling case with no leads, and the added complication of the involvement of the cold case team led by DI Dean Fitzpatrick, with whom she has history.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was plausible and kept me gripped. I liked the way the story developed, with the full picture gradually unfolding as the narrative alternated between Helen’s story and Eva’s. The plot concentrates as much on the characters involved, as the how and why of the crimes, which makes for a more enjoyable read. DCI Lavery in particular is a very believable character. Thankfully she doesn’t adhere to some of the stereotypical portrayals of female detectives, and she has a warmth and empathy, that is engaging. She lives with her mother and two teenage sons and juggles her job with her family life, not always successfully, something that many readers can immediately identify with. Although this is the not the first appearance of DCI Lavery, it is her first in the UK and I hope it will not be the last.